Blog

Ballynafagh, Co Kildare

Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.

— John Steinbeck

The ruins of Ballynafagh Church sit stranded on an island, the last sanctuary amongst an ocean of barley. The last of the summer lights bathes a golden warmth across the crop interrupted only by two lone poppies fighting to reach the light above the mass of barley. Colour affects us at a deeper level and how we all respond differently to colours. For me red is particularly emotive especially in the form of poppies. Growing up in the UK, Remembrance Day and its poignant ceremony to commemorate soldiers who have died in war, was something I was involved in and took great pride in wearing the poppy upon my lapel. These annual ceremonies and a school trip to the battlefield sites and cemeteries of WW1 have left a lasting impression on me and I cant see a poppy with these memories coming instantly back to me.